MAS 38
|barrel= |weight= |justweight= |width= |height= |magazine=32-round detachable box magazine |cycle=640rpm |minrange= |effective= |range= |alt= |usedby= |velocity= }}The MAS Mle 1938, usually written as MAS 38, was a French submachine gun that was produced by Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne (MAS). It served as the standard submachine gun of the French Army during World War II. History The developmental history of the MAS 38 can be traced back to the mid-1920s, when a prototype known as the MAS 24, chambered in the new 7.65×20mm Longue cartridge, was developed at St. Étienne for military consideration. It was not adopted, however, as the French Army cancelled its SMG projects soon afterward, feeling there was little requirement for a service submachine gun. By the 1930s, this attitude had changed, and the Army ordered the development of submachine guns to be resumed. The St. Étienne factory resumed work on the MAS 24 concept and by 1935 it had been redesigned into a new prototype known as the MAS 35. The MAS 35 was tested by the Technical Commission of the French Army against two rival designs, the Petter and the ETVS. It was deemed preferential to the ETVS gun and considered worthy of further development. Minor modifications to the design resulted in the conception of the finished product, known as the MAS 38. It was slated to be adopted as the main service SMG of the French Army in 1939, while the Petter gun would be taken into limited service. St. Étienne were tooling up to mass-produce the gun in 1939 when World War II broke out and interrupted the process of adoption. The first batches were allocated to the Garde Mobile rather than the Army itself. By the time Army received its first deliveries of the gun, in late 1940, France had already been completely invaded by Germany. Nevertheless, production continued as planned and the gun was issued to the security forces of Vichy France throughout the war. It also saw widespread circulation among resistance groups, both in and out of France. Notably, a MAS 38 is claimed to have been the weapon which was used by an Italian partisan to assassinate Benito Mussolini in 1945. After the war, the French Army underwent reformation and restructuring, including planned changes to military equipment. It was decided, based on wartime performance, that the 7.65×20mm cartridge was underpowered and that 9×19mm should be adopted to conform with the rest of Western Europe. While the MAS 38 remained in production and service, plans were underway to replace it with a new gun and by the late 1940s, experimental trials were taking place which resulted in the adoption of the MAT-49 submachine gun in 1950. Production of the MAS 38 was discontinued as the MAT-49 was phased in, although it remained in military service throughout the French Indochina conflicts of the 1950s. By the 1960s, it had been almost completely replaced by the MAT-49. Design Generally speaking, the MAS 38 was quite good weapon, reliable and rather accurate and controllable; its only problem was underpowered 7.65×20mm Longue ammunition, which greatly limited is effective range. The most unusual thing about the MAS 38 was that bolt rode at a slight downward angle to the axis of the bore; in theory, this was done to reduce recoil and slow down the movement of the bolt by additional friction. The bolt reciprocates inside the long tube that runs through the wooden buttstock. The charging handle was located on the right side of the gun and had a dust cover attached to it. Once the weapon was cocked, the charging handle remained in retracted position and reciprocated when the gun was fired. Additional dust covers were fitted to the front of the magazine housing, which closed when the magazine was removed to prevent any dirt and grit from entering the gun. The manual safety was in the form of folding trigger; to render the gun safe, the operator had to fold the trigger forward. Standard sights consisted of front blade and two folding rear blades. References Category:Submachine guns